Girl Power

In “Spice World,” that manufactured pop quintet, the Spice Girls, moves from one mischievous moment to the next, all on the eve of a big live performance at Albert Hall in London. Rated PG.

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Fans of the Spice Girls are a devoted lot. Even when faced with an awful movie, these young girls still scream for a spicier world.

Patti Shuman is a typical soldier in the battle for more spice. The 10-year-old from Fullerton has loved the Spice Girls for the last year and couldn’t wait for their Monkees-like picture, “Spice World,” to reach theaters.

After seeing it (and vowing to see it again), Patti could barely think straight through her gushing: “Oh God! . . . They are just the best . . . just everything they do.”

She went on to say that all the Spicers--Scary, Sporty, Ginger, Posh and Baby--are great singers, great dancers, great actors and (probably most significant) great dressers. Patti thought the movie was outstanding, simply because the girls are in just about every scene.

“They did crazy stuff,” she said. “I love [when they] do that.”

The plot didn’t matter much to Patti, who had a hard time interpreting it. Her friend, 9-year-old Carol Lama of Fullerton, wasn’t much better at divining the story line. She understood that all the brief comedy, singing and dancing scenes were leading to a big live performance in London, but that was about it.

“They’re just cool [and] in it [the movie] a lot,” Carol said, and that’s quite enough to satisfy her needs.

Carol’s favorite Spice Girl is Baby, the smallish blond one with ponytails high on her pink head and a lollipop forever stuck in her pouty mouth. Baby is good at making peckish expressions then suddenly veering into quasi-lascivious dancing.

“She looks like me,” Carol noted.

Baby is an especially energetic Spice Girl, which is saying something. Carol studies her every dance move (in videos and now the movie) and spends much time at home learning the steps. Carol and Patti giggled when asked if they practiced together.

“Yeah, all the time,” Patti confessed.

Another fan, 11-year-old Melissa Core of Anaheim, had to think for a moment before she could remember any favorite scenes. Finally, she cited a passage in which the quintet goes for a mildly troubled speed-boat ride and another when the girls dress up in fatigues and pretend they’re soldiers.

She also was thrilled when the Spice Girls performed one of their biggest hits, “Wannabe,” in an English pub. Melissa started shaking just thinking about it.

“I love that song!” she exclaimed.

When told that most adults, including furrowed-brow music critics, think the Spice Girls will disappear soon, just another flashy act to take the money and run, Melissa frowned in disbelief, while Carol and Patti were left speechless.

But soon enough, they were giggling again, full of optimism. In a Spice World, bad things like that just can’t happen.

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PARENT’S PERSPECTIVE: Despite the Spice Girls’ lip-service to “girl power,” parents said they would never become important female role models like, say, Hillary Clinton. But, they added, the fivesome’s movie is pretty harmless, even with the skimpy costumes and sexy body-shaking.

Carol’s mother, Joan Lama, said only the very young would be held by what she described as “a very lame” film.

“It’s one of those movies where you just have to let the girls go,” Lama explained. “I just wish I’d dropped them off [or] went to see something else.”

Kenneth Heber of Brea brought his daughter and a friend to “Spice World” and even thought about dragging his 13-year-old son. He’s glad he didn’t. And he’s glad the group’s fame may be short-lived.

“My son would have been bored silly [but the girls] seemed to enjoy it,” Heber said. “I could barely keep awake; at least you know [the Spice Girls] probably won’t be around much longer.”